LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - The United States said it was prepared to work past a midnight deadline into Wednesday if progress was being made towards clinching a preliminary nuclear deal between Iran and global powers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence rebounded strongly in March amid optimism over the labor market while house prices increased in January, hopeful signs that a recent sharp slowdown in economic activity was probably a blip.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) declared an election victory on Tuesday for former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari and said Africa's most populous nation was witnessing history with its first democratic transfer of power.

(Reuters) - Charter Communications Inc said it would buy Bright House Networks in a $10.4 billion deal as it seeks to expand its cable network after losing out to Comcast Corp in a fight for Time Warner Cable Inc last year.

The campaign to retake the city of Tikrit from ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, involves a curious mixture of Iraqi forces -- the army and air force, federal police, powerful Shia militia as well as Sunni tribal fighters.

The mortar was dropped into the launch tube, but nothing happened. A prod, a kick and a shake failed to stir it. Eventually one of the Kurdish fighters at this position near Mosul unceremoniously tipped the tube upside down, picked up the offending shell and lobbed it over the sandbags, where mercifully it failed to explode.